And the Oscar could go to...Michelle Yeoh

A couple of weeks ago on DJ, contributor Tim O'Brien put forward some names he thought might well be in the running to be nominated in the Best Actress category of the Oscars; Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Michelle Williams were some of the women he mentioned.

The following day another DJ writer, Andrew Moran, asked us whether we thought Streep would be nominated again for her role as Margaret Thatcher in the film The Iron Lady.

Somewhat dismissive, more for the subject matter of the movie rather than Streep's undoubted talent, I commented - a rare occurrence.

Well now I would like to raise all bets by throwing another name into the hat and one which I hope will indeed walk away with the gong - Michelle Yeoh.

She plays the part of Aung San Suu Kyi in French director Luc Besson's film The Lady, set for general release here in France on November 30.

"The story of pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and the academic and writer Michael Aris; a true story of love set against political turmoil," is how the blurb describes a film that Yeoh apparently spent four years trying to convince someone to make.

Nobody was interested until Besson agreed without a second thought, as he told French TV.

"Michelle quite literally became Suu in preparing for the role," he said.

For Yeoh there was no point in trying to memorise her lines phonetically without understanding them, so she learnt Burmese. And she lost weight to play the part.

The result? Well some French cinema critics are describing it as "a once in a lifetime role".

Take a look at the trailer and see what you think.

Oh yes, apparently The Lady premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Did anyone here get to see it?